Our forever family
by sarcasticbella089
Summary: When Julia got pregnant at 18, she made a promise to her family to not give up on her dreams. 16 years later, Julia and Joel take on the challenges of raising a 16 yr old and a 5 yr old with the help of the Braverman clan.
_March 1994_

 _Camille opened the bathroom door to find Julia, sobbing on the floor. Instantly, she felt her heart shatter into pieces. Camille hated to see her children in pain._

 _"Oh, sweetie." She whispered as she joined her daughter on the floor and pulled her in for a hug. Julia buried her face into Camille's neck as she continued to cry._

 _"I never wanted to disappoint you guys." She mumbled. Camille sighed._

 _"Honey-"_

 _"Mom, don't. I saw the look on Dad's face. He didn't have to say a word. His face said it all."_

 _"Julia, look at me." Camille encouraged. But Julia wouldn't budge. Slowly, Camille lifted Julia's chin with her pointer finger._

 _"My beautiful baby girl. Your dad is in shock right now, we all are. But that does not mean that we love you any less. Nothing you could ever do would make us stop loving you, you are our world. Your dad will come around eventually, you've just got to give it some time." Camille explained._

 _When Julia had come home from Stanford for the weekend, Zeek and Camille knew something was up, but they certainly didn't even think of the possibility of their youngest daughter being pregnant and alone._

 _Julia Braverman was arguably the most level headed of Zeek and Camille's four children. She was focused, driven, smart, and determined. Julia was the child they worried about the least, and everyone in the family knew she would succeed at whatever she put her mind to. But now, now she was standing in front of her parents, a scared eighteen year old girl, telling them she had messed up. Zeek knew he had to say something, but he couldn't find the words. It was all he could do to just stand and stare at Julia._

 _Camille began to laugh softly as she shook her head. "Do you remember the story of your birth?"_

 _Julia scoffed as a smile slowly but surely crept upon her face. "Oh God..."_

 _"I had never seen so much rain in my entire life. I can still so vividly hear the 911 operator on the line. "Mr. Braverman, please wait for the paramedics, they are on their way!" And they did show up...thirty minutes after you were born. Your father was the very first person to hold you, and that will always be the proudest moment in his life."_

 _"I'm going to do this mom. This baby isn't going to change my dreams. I'm going to finish college, and I'm going to go to law school, and I'm going to raise this baby. I'm going to do it mom." Julia declared, her voice strong and clear. Camille smiled as tears welled up in her eyes._

 _"I know you will. If anybody can do it all, it's you. My darling girl, you are the strongest woman I know, and I am so proud and so lucky to be your mother. I always have been, and I always will be. You're going to get through this, and I, your dad, your brothers and your sister are going to be there for you every step of the way. You're going to make one amazing mommy, Julia."_

 _Julia smiled as she looked up at her mother. "I learned from the best."_

* * *

 _October 1994_

 _"Come on Julia, push, push! You're almost there!" The doctor yelled, trying to encourage Julia to continue working._

 _"I can't! I can't! Just please give me the drugs, I was so stupid to pass them up, I want drugs!" She cried, her body drenched in sweat as it worked in overtime to deliver her child. Camille stood up by her head, gripping her hand tightly._

 _"Listen to me, there is nothing that you can't do!" She yelled. "Nothing! You are not a quitter Julia, don't start now."_

 _Julia looked into her mother's eyes, and found deep down inside of herself a new strength. Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes as she continued to push, screaming out in pain every second of the way._

 _"And we've got a girl! Time of birth, 12:18pm."_

 _Bringing up the six pound eight ounce baby girl to her mother's chest, Julia immediately broke down. After a fourteen hour labor, she had delivered her daughter completely drug free._

 _"Welcome to the world Alyson Camille, mommy loves you already."_

* * *

September 2010

"You mean I have more cousins than just Hattie and Max?" Sydney asked, her feet dangling from her booster seat. The family was on their way to Zeek and Camille's for a family dinner to celebrate Sarah's homecoming.

"Yeah, bug. Mommy's sister, Sarah, has two kids. Amber is 16, and Drew is 14." Julia explained.

Sydney sighed loudly. "Teenagers, of course. I never get cousins my age."

"Honey, Max is only a year older than you." Joel pointed out.

"Max is weird!" Sydney replied, scrunching up her face.

"Sydney Victoria!" Julia scolded, her eyes on her youngest daughter through the rearview mirror. Sydney shrugged her shoulders.

"Well he is!"

"Why did Aunt Sarah move away in the first place? Isn't there some law that all Braverman's must reside in Berkeley?" Aly questioned, her straight, flowing blonde hair hitting her elbow.

Joel chuckled. "It does feel that way most days, doesn't it?"

Julia rolled her eyes.

"Al, when you grow up and have children of your own, you will learn what a gift it is to have your family close by. Aunt Sarah moved to Fresno to be with her husband. Now that they are separated, she needs some help with raising her kids. We're family, peanut, we take care of each other."

Julia zoned out as she thought about the day Sarah left. She could still picture the way she and Camille screamed and cried at each other. From the top of the stairs, Julia watched as her mother begged her sister not to run off with her boyfriend. Sarah screamed that she could live her life however she chose before pushing past her mother and running out of the house into Seth's waiting car.

Seventeen years later, unemployed and without money, Sarah made the choice to leave her drug addicted, alcoholic husband for good. Doing the only thing she knew to do, she took the kids (kicking and screaming based upon Adam's description) and headed home. It was going to be the first time the Braverman siblings would be living in the same city since Adam had left for college.

Aly and Sydney's argument in the back seat over Sydney wanting to use her older sister's cell phone brought Julia back to reality. Looking over at Joel, she sighed.

"An eleven year age difference between the two of them, and they still fight like a couple of teenage girls."

* * *

Out on the screen porch, Adam, Sarah, Crosby, and Julia sat around, catching up with each other. Crosby took a swing of his beer before laughing, and putting his hands up in defence.

"All I'm saying is, I just find it hilarious that the youngest, and easily most responsible out of us, was the first one to have a kid. Yet I, the least responsible-well, actually, I'd like to think there's a tie between Sarah and I for title of least responsible. Don't give me that look, you know I still love you." He rambled, Sarah laughing and shaking her head.

"Anyway, who would have thought that I would have made it to my thirties without having knocked anyone up."

"Wasn't there some kind of bet going around with that?" Adam joked.

"And for the record, I was not the first to have a kid, Hattie was born in August of 94, a full two months before Aly!" Julia pointed out as she took her pony tail out and allowed her hair to fall more freely.

Hattie and Aly had grown up together, what with Zeek and Camille watching the girls while Adam and Kristina worked and Julia went to school. The two shared an incredible bond, and we're as close as sisters. While Amber too was the same age as Aly and Hattie, Julia worried about the girls including her. Hattie and Aly had quite a bit in common, they were very much into fashion, did well in school, and loved experimenting with hair and make up. Even with Julia having her daughter at nineteen, both girls had very normal, stable childhoods and several male role models. Joel had been in Aly's life since she was three, and had adopted her shortly after he and Julia married, when Aly was eight.

Amber on the other hand, was wise beyond her years. Her childhood had been filled with memories of her mother and father fighting, and watching her father succumb to drugs and alcohol. Seth was constantly in and out of Amber and Drew's lives, and when he was in, he was usually on something. The kids had been forced to grow up at an early age.

Amber smoked, she had a boyfriend Sarah didn't approve of, and getting the girl to go to school was a battle in and of itself. Julia hated to admit it, but she worried about the influence Amber might have on Hattie and Aly. Knowing that Aly and Hattie had left together for a mutual friends house, had greatly eased her nerves.

"Guys, come on, we gotta go."

Joel stood in the doorway.

"What? Go where?" Adam questioned.

"The police station. Aly, Hattie, and Amber got busted for underage drinking at some party."


End file.
